100% complete insanity

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Well, it's out: 70 pages of Wilmer-Hale billable hours on what went down with Mel Pearson and the hockey program over the last couple years. Pearson chased off team captain Strauss Mann, was ineffectual at best when dealing with a subordinate's abusive behavior towards women, instructed players to lie about positive COVID tests before the 2021 NCAA tournament, and repeatedly lied to investigators.

So what are we doing here? It is August 2nd. This report was issued to the university in May. Warde Manuel has done nothing either way since. The report was made available to the public by MLive, not the actual university. Mel Pearson costs zero dollars to fire. What could possibly justify the three months of limbo the hockey program has been in? A week, maybe two is understandable. Three months is absurd.

[Hit the JUMP for inexplicable delays]
[Patrick Barron]

10/30/21 – Michigan 33, Michigan State 37 – 7-1, 4-1 Big Ten

Any close game is going to have its share of coulda-shoulda-woulda moments. There's always missed free throws or shots that hit the post, etc. Saturday's game will stand out in my memory for sheer quantity in this department. It felt like every third play was a Fateful Moment, from Andrel Anthony ripping through the MSU secondary for 93 yards to Blake Corum dropping a swing pass with almost nothing but grass in front of him to David Ojabo's sack-strip touchdown to having that taken off the board by the replay official.

The previous sentence didn't get out of the first half. Also it could have included several other items. You see what I mean. This game was jam-packed with stuff. Bombs! Exciting runs! Special teams disasters! Aztecs invading Europe! Four straight field goals from the same guy at the same spot on the field! Boggling attempts to substitute while the other team was going up-tempo!

Unfortunately for Michigan, the most fateful thing was the backup quarterback coming in and having a mutual misunderstanding with Corum about who was supposed to have the ball. Michigan was up three and at their 45 with seven minutes left. They had almost 500 yards of offense at that point. JJ McCarthy had already fumbled, and so there is nonstop rabbling in the Michigan fanbase this day. Ah well.

--------------------------------------------------

Here, as always, the particular Michigan mania sets in to ruin everything. This is a team with a more-or-less first year starting quarterback that could bring back literally everyone on the roster except for Andrew Vastardis and Brad Hawkins. Even when you account for likely NFL departures like Aidan Hutchinson and Dax Hill, this team looks more like a team building towards a peak roster year than something for the here and now. Anthony is breaking out on offense; Ojabo is breaking out on defense.

To many programs that would feel pretty good. There are scattered outposts of Michigan fandom attempting this zen even now.

To me it's difficult to get there because this is year seven of Jim Harbaugh and it seems like the error rate is baked in at this point. Michigan took three illegal substitution penalties and failed to get lined up on several other plays because of basic college crappe like "sometimes we use tempo." When Michigan tried it themselves they ended up asking AJ Henning to block a linebacker. Then they false-started on a fourth and one attempt and the punter did not get a punt off.

You could ascribe some of that to a near-complete staff reboot. I'm not particularly inclined since this is a program that has made shooting itself in the foot in miserable fashion a trademark. Sometimes they're pretty talented and it doesn't matter until they get to the games where the opposition is capable of matching them. When they are, though, it's always Michigan turning around to hand the ball off and failing to, you know, do that.

This does not have to be fate. LSU just won a national championship with a coach they'd fire less than two years later because he is excessively horny. Whatever Ed Orgeron's assets are, they do not include "is organized" or "suitable for indoor use." But man am I inclined to jump off the moving car that is football season as soon as this stuff rears its head again. It doesn't feel like Michigan is building to anything except another Michigan Football Season where they win enough games to make you think they're going to win the important ones and then don't.

So when McCarthy's in the game because Cade McNamara is briefly in the injury tent it doesn't feel like a weird one-off that you can shrug about and leave in the past. It feels like something that's going to happen against Penn State, and Ohio State, and so forth and so on. Maybe that's irrational. At this point, expecting Michigan to do something other than one-up themselves in late game failures seems more irrational to me.      

AWARDS

Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week

51642807119_551271102e_k

[Fuller]

-2535ac8789d1b499[1]you're the man now, dog

#1 Cade McNamara. My pregame take was that I thought Michigan would probably win if they got equal QB play but I was very nervous about that. McNamara blew expectations out of the water with a 383 yard, 8.7 YPA day where he was lasering in pinpoint passes while under some duress.

#2 Andrel Anthony. Hello Mr. Anthony. Randy Sklar lands the second-best Hot Take of all time by predicting Anthony would break out as Michigan's #1 receiver by next year; that took about a game to seem true. Anthony outran the entire secondary on his 93-yarder, had a Braylon/Terrell leaping TD later, had the wherewithal to get out of bounds on a late first half catch, and nearly made another spectacular leaping grab late on. It's not just the catches, it's the way he made them. Looks like a future star. Maybe a current one.

#3 Aidan Hutchinson/David Ojabo. Three sacks and one erroneously deleted touchdown between them. Generally unblockable. Three points each.

Honorable mention: Erick All had ten(!) catches, building on last week, and looks like he's emerging into the kind of dual-threat weapon Michigan fans had envisioned from him for years. Dax Hill forced an INT with a PBU, had another one, and tracked down a would-be TD, for all the good that did. Jake Moody was 7/7 on field goals, four of which counted.

KFaTAotW Standings.

(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)

31: Aidan Hutchinson (HM WMU, #2 Wash, #1 Rutgers, #1 Wisc, HM Neb, #2 NW, T3 MSU)

18: The OL (#1 Wash, #1 NIU, HM Neb, HM NW)

17: Hassan Haskins (HM WMU, T3 Wash, T2 NIU, #2 Neb, T1 NW), Blake Corum (#2 WMU, T3 Wash, T2 NIU, HM Neb, T1 NW)

8: Ronnie Bell (#1 WMU), Brad Hawkins (#1 Neb), Cade McNamara (#1 MSU), Dax Hill (#3 WMU, HM NIU, HM Rutgers, HM Wisc, HM Neb, HM MSU)

6: Nikhai Hill-Green(HM NIU, #2 Rutgers), Jake Moody (HM Wash, HM Wisc, #3 Neb, HM MSU)

5: David Ojabo (#2 Wisc), Brad Robbins (HM Wash, #3 Rutgers, HM Wisc), Josh Ross (HM Wash, HM NIU, HM Rutgers, HM Neb, HM NW), Andrel Anthony (#2 MSU)

4: AJ Henning (HM WMU, #3 NIU)

3: Donovan Edwards(T2 NIU), Roman Wilson (#3 Wisc), DJ Turner (#3 NW)

2: Cornelius Johnson(HM NIU, HM Wisc), Erick All (HM NW, HM MSU)

1: Andrew Vastardis (HM WMU),Mike Sainristil (HM WMU),  Mazi Smith (HM Wash), Gemon Green(HM NIU), Chris Hinton (HM Rutgers)

Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week

Anthony takes a crossing route 93 yards to paydirt.

Honorable mention: Sack-strip by Ojabo; the other sack-strip by Ojabo; McNamara threads a needle to convert on a crossing route to All.

image​MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.

The fateful fumble.

Honorable mention: Corum drops that swing pass; various tempo follies; TD taken off the board wrongly by replay official; Johnson drops a back shoulder bomb; no PI on fourth down; more tempo follies; false start on fourth and one; subsequent punt dorf; I could keep going but will not.

[After THE JUMP: ack]

little man, big game [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

In an unexpectedly spicy Big Ten quarterfinal, Michigan overcame an early double-digit deficit and the second-half ejection of Juwan Howard to finish off a three-game season sweep of a feisty Maryland team.

Despite the unexpected return of Eli Brooks, the Wolverines got off to a painfully slow start, falling into a 15-6 hole. They clawed back only to fall behind once more after Hunter Dickinson picked up two dubious offensive fouls in a little over a minute. Maryland's stretch bigs hit outside shots and attacking guards found less resistance at the rim with Austin Davis at center.

With five minutes to play in the half, Juwan Howard shifted Brandon Johns to center. After Eric Ayala's layup pushed the margin to 12 on the next possessions, he called a timeout. Whatever he said in that huddle was effective. Johns backed down Galin Smith for an and-one baby hook, then Mike Smith went airborne to drop off an assist to Johns, prompting a Mark Turgeon timeout that failed to make the same impact.



Mike Smith had the ball on a string all game [Campredon]

Hellacious defense from Chaundee Brown forced a shot clock violation out of the TO, then Smith made play after play before halftime, scoring or assisting on 11 of Michigan's points in a 16-2 run to go into the tunnel up 40-38. Smith worked his way into the paint before a slick feed to Franz Wagner netted a layup just before the buzzer. Maryland shot 63% from the field, Michigan's top player played six minutes, and the Wolverines still led at the break.

The second half was mostly a continuation of that run, plus beef. Michigan quickly led by nine thanks to dominant play from Dickinson and Smith plus cooled-off shooting from the Terps, who couldn't find the mark from outside with Howard switching the defense to a matchup zone. Whenever Maryland threatened to make it a game again, the Wolverines responded with daggers. Smith hit all three of his three-point attempts; Wagner and Brooks each canned 2/2.

The Terrapins spent much of the half attempting to bully-ball Smith with bigger guards when they weren't firing wayward threes. Smith was up to the task on that end, helping hold the Terps to an 11/30 mark from the field in the final stanza. That's also burying the lede considering his record-setting afternoon on offense: he finished with 18 points on 16 shooting possessions while dishing out 15 assists, which smashed the Big Ten Tournament single-game record of 12 set by Derrick Walton during the Kam Chatman Game in 2016.



...oh [Campredon]

Even that performance may be overshadowed, however, by the brouhaha that occurred during the under-12 media timeout. Viewers were brought back from commercial break to the news that Juwan Howard had been ejected with two technical fouls, and the Maryland bench had also received a technical, following a heated exchange of words that led to Howard being held back by members of the staff. What was said is unclear; the result was Phil Martelli coaching out the duration.

Again, the Terps made a couple short runs only to be rebuffed. A beautiful give-and-go between Wagner and Brooks answered an Ayala layup to get Michigan back up by eight, then Smith and Brooks sank late triples to head off the potential desperation foul-fest.

After looking like the team that was less comfortable in an unfamiliar gym for 15 minutes, Michigan played like this tournament's top seed for the final 25. Brooks and his ankle looked little worse for wear after some ugly first-half jumpers came up short, which is the most important news to come out of the day even with the win. Unless someone leaks whatever Mark Turgeon said, at least.

Michigan will play the winner of four-seed Purdue and five-seed Ohio State (on BTN right now) in tomorrow's first semifinal at 1 pm Eastern on CBS.

[Hit THE JUMP for more photos and the box score.]

At least the conference made sure we wouldn't have a shortage of Franz WTH faces.

incomplete

but wait

there is a penalty marker down

and he did catch the ball

did he ca-- we have no signals, i have not seen a touchdown signal

this blog is finally forced to address the topic of the president's competence or lack thereof 

what

In the year 2775 an elite force of TIME COPS has mostly fixed the world's problems but would like to keep its giant budget intact.